Day 15 Yangsho - Guilin - X'ian

After a quick breakfast we were picked up by our driver. Gary came to say goodbye. They had been concerned that end of New Year traffic might make it harder to drive through ttown and get to the airport on time It was not a problem and we made the 70 km trip in good time. It was a grey and foggy day. This made it a bit easier to leave.  [Gary told us later that the following week was cold and rainy, with temperatires below 10 degrees. We were lucky!]

The airport was full of young families: mothers and fathers and one or sometimes two young children along with grandma and grandpa.  The children are very sweet and calm there is none ofhte running, fussing and loud noises we expect with western children. It is increasingly clear that children are well loved with most of their needs catered to, but with very clear behaviour expectations.  They seem very happy. 

The flight to X'ian is fast and quiet. After the small airport and relaxed atmosphere in Guilin, the airport seemed huge. Without checked baggage we were able to quickly leave, find and then board the airport bus. The Hostel World web site contained good instructions and we made it to the hostel without too much delay. 

Day 14 Last day in Yangshuo

Day 14 February  3 Last day in Yangshuo (EE)

After watching the sky brighten behind the mountains, I got up around 7 to go for a walk. Not really early by school day standards. Nor for Chinese tourists.  The bamboo rafts must start up from the town docks as soon as it is light.  There were five fully loaded..  driver and six passengers...on the river as I walked to the right, past the bike rental house to the slightly more main road. 

The road led to a couple of villages. What does that mean? A large patch of land subdivided into many plots,  each about the size of the old NCC  garden plots.  Many rich and green with mustard,  cabbages,  carrots, some peas blooming and many orange and kumquat trees.  There are deep rectangular basins made of concrete that fill up with water during the March to May rainy season.     Other plots are untended and weedy. Alf explained that farmers are making more in a month as landlords (or more) than they ever made farming.   Many of the tall, simple houses are being converted to guest houses or hotels.    (I have some photos to illustrate this.) 

Quite a few people in the fields picking mustard and cabbages and loading the into baskets on their three wheeled bikes,  or baskets which they then carried with a yoke over their shoulders.  

The road turned west and led to the outskirts of Yangshuo.   There are about eight four storey apartment buildings there. There will be more soon, I imagine they will be done by the end of the summer. 

Then left on one of the main roads in to town.   By now it was 8 and the day well underway for Chinese tourists.   Families were pouring out of the many hotels, into cars,  onto rented bikes,  into the many storefront restaurants selling breakfast noodles and just wandering.   I joined them, although not for noodles today.  Instead I stopped at a restaurant by the river and had a "Dutch Breakfast." Juice, coffee, yogurt, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for 28 yuan. It was already over 20 degrees, warm enough to eat outside. 

Then wandered among the river front, watching people live up for raft rides, try their two or three days rented bikes, pose beside the cormorants who were tied (Not nailed) to their perch and generally have a good time on holiday in warm weather.a

A note about restaurants here.  When you sit down, the server hands you a menu then stands there until you order.  It can be a bit intimidating at first.  In this tourist town they are more used to westerners, so will give you time of you need it.   In many places you also pay right away. The food is almost always delicious. 

The whole walk was about 2.5 hours and I arrived back in time for a second cup of coffee at the hotel. It was a superb start to a very satisfying day. 

Day 13 - Li River Retreat

Day 13 February 2 Li River Retreat Sunday a walkabout day.

The sun is behind the mountains when we awake this morning and the mist has a glow like the translucence of a candle through thin white ceramic. We widen the curtains and sit up on the bed watching the three mountains materialize out of the most while birds chitter away in the warmth of the emerging sun

We breakfast downstairs where the windows are wide open and the wooden wall to the terrace has been opened. We share a fruit plate and order oatmeal in anticipation of a walk this morning. A large mug of coffee each fulfils our needs.

We collect our walking gear and Alf, who leads us northward along the river road through farmland and down to a secret beach. Here we can see how low the river is at this time of year. There are oxbows where the water has meandered on recent seasons and the high water line is a full 1.5 metres above the, ahem, current level.

This is well-ordered land. Fields are carefully tended with a wide range of seasonal crops including mustard greens, some sorts of bok choy, nuts, garlic, onion, carrot, passion fruit, bamboo shoots. sugar came, peppers mild and hot, cabbage, rice, kumquats, oranges and pomelos amongst other things. The food you get here is almost all local, which is great.

Alf tells us that he has a home in Guilin because he and his wife don't want their children in a local school. He says that the new influx of wealth into the area is all tied to rentierism and formerly peasant farmer landlords see no value in education, an attitude they transmit to their children. So his kids go to a big city school, though from the sounds of things it is demanding and hard on the students and their parents. It must be difficult to have to discipline children to do three hours of homework every night when what you really want is to play with them..

As the three of us continue our walk, Alf tells us that his landlord has ambitions to tear down the present hotel building and put up a new one. This will mean a lot of work, expense and inconvenience for the family but would also mean that they can design the new place from scratch and have a new 20 year lease. Such an outcome will bring them right up to retirement age So win-win as they say in these parts. I for one will mourn the passing of our room, which in my mind just might have the best view view in China. Sigh.

Back to the hotel where I shower and wash some clothes. 
We take a few minutes to experiment with the beautiful koto on the second floor. It seems to be tuned A B C# E F# and A again. A perfect pentatonic scale for leads in A. chording is trickier.

we walk into town to reconnoiter the Friend Hotel across from McDonald's on West street. They know how to book train tickets, which is encouraging.

Town is busy. The ferry terminal is bustling with merchants who are too intent on getting ready for the incoming ships to pay attention to us. Elizabeth observes that this makes for a very peaceful stroll , and I agree.

The river walk is a different matter entirely. The place is crowded with vacationers and those who live on us. River cruises, coolie hats, postcards, intriguing pastries or possibly fried tofu, photographs of myself standing with a man in traditional peasant outfit and
cormorants on each end of a long pole, silk scarves, Mao hats with traditional red star and much, much more are there for the discerning spender. We find the Friend Hotel without problem. We find that the staff can't figure out where we need to go so we stop for lunch at a little place called Lucy's where we share a plate of mustard with garlic, spicy chicken , small rice and beverages. Tasty.

We find the park but I am getting tired so Elizabeth navigates is back to the terminal - - which is starting to look a bit like a buffalo jump - - and back to the hotel. We arrive at about 4 pm and take a bit of a break.

Well actually I take a bit of a break. Elizabeth confirms our hostel reservation in Xi'an and gets on to the computer in the lobby to try to figure out why the camera on her tablet is not working.

When I find her in the lobby she has found a solution to the camera problem - a bug related to resolution on scenery shots - and we are ready for dinner

During her hamburger and my robs in black bean sauce Alf tells us that his wife is playing the koto so we turn off the dining room music and listen in while talking quietly amongst ourselves about the joys and complexity of families.

The impromptu concert is over at around 7, so we retire to our room. Elizabeth plans to read ; I may do a bit of writing. 



Day 12 Kayaking on the Li River

Day 12 01 February Kayaking on the Li River (DEA)

We wake this morning at dawn and breakfast well. Elizabeth has oatmeal with bananas and a large coffee : I am a more moderate fellow and settle for a medium coffee with just a few sides : two eggs, two toast, two strips of bacon and too many French fries. Elizabeth helps me choke down my freshly squeezed orange juice and we are ready to face the morning, or at least that portion of the day which features the Li River.

Our driver arrives promptly at nine and we spend the next thirty minutes carrining about town collecting coadventurers for our epic voyage. Two French bankers and am Egyptian engineer later we arrive at the Li where a bamboo raft carrying five little kayaks, a bunch of paddles and assorted pfds chugs into view. Thus equipped we are launched onto the Li.

This part of the river is devoid of the larger craft that carry tourists and local travellers between Guilin and Yangshuo and all points between. Nor does it have the armada of bamboo rafts we were amongst just two days ago . Rather, the river seems to be not very populated with local traffic. There are fish traps or farms composed of net tubes running parallel to the shore in the shallows, all marked with water bottles as buoys. There are small family owned docks with moored rafts and playing children. Men and women can be seen on the shoreline washing, fishing, or just throwing stones into the water and laughing at the splashes. The sky is blue, clouds fluffy white, wind gentle and temperature warm. I am smiling like a maniac; Elizabeth seems happy too, and I smile even more.

The Engineer, whose name is Mia, is quite inexperienced with water craft so I tell her to listen to Elizabeth and follow her advice in case of uncertainty. The French bankers are experienced water rats and completely comfortable with their new boats. The company guide putts ahead on his raft, seemingly relaxed but in fact keeping a careful but unobtrusive eye on us all.

So we paddle into the middle of the day. There is some fast water to our left which Elizabeth tackles with joy. I take a more leisurely approach, first reminding Mia to continue paddling regularly and steer into the open tops of the V shapes. Of course I get drenched, but hey, that's what water is for!

I turn back upstream to watch Mia and also to get a sense of the current. At this point I have to make a major effort to stay stationary relative to the shore. Perhaps Elizabeth could make some headway here, but not me!

At this time of year the water is low and there are sandbars. Close to the shore is shallow and in some places quite weedy
The French legation has taken to standing on their boats and seem to be doing quite well with this approach.

We pass a little village where there are apparently n natives in bright local costumes ready to dance and sell us lunch, but we stay on the water. This is too much fun to stop, even briefly. Elizabeth takes a stab at stand up Kayaking and manages brilliantly.

Some more quick water and the landscape is slightly different - somehow almost like the Gatineau hills just south of Ottawa along the river. Of course, there are some minor differences including karst mountains off to the side, huge stands of enormous bamboo, the ubiquitous Chinese rafts, and a gentle whiff of gunpowder on the breeze.

I am getting tired but still making reasonable progress when quite suddenly a large bridge drifts into view and we are at the end of our excursion. I have the wobbles getting out of the boat - 4 hours cross legged can do that to me - - and am feeling parts of my arms that I didn't know I own, but still wholly overjoyed by the trip. Elizabeth remarks that this may be the highlight of our vacation :she may well be right.

At 1:30 we pile back into the van and are returned to our hotel. I am quite wet, including my shoes, but we dry off quickly and head downstairs to lunch.

We are both quite in need of carbohydrates so Elizabeth orders some sort of macaroni dish and I opt for the Sheppards pie. It is tasty but not my favourite incarnation of this dish. Elizabeth has a large coffee and I order a second beer

Afterwards we head upstairs but are distracted by Alf, one of the hotel owners. He is an Australian of Spanish descent who trained as an electrician before travelling much of the world as a bartender and tour guide. He and his wife (a local girl) have owned this place for seven years. They have two children and business seems to be working for them. He is apparently a devoted walker so Elizabeth and I agree to meet him tomorrow morning for a ramble around the neighbourhood.

Finally upstairs I decide that my image has suffered quite enough. In addition to trying to walk in new and unfamiliar mule sandals, I am still shaky from the last two days activities: these, combined with the remainder of my beer clenched firmly in hand convey a strong image of the indolent foreigner who is drunk by noon. So enough! I take the blow drier to my poor abused shoes and spend a few moments organizing my laundry. This turns out to be a good idea because we have new neighbours. In fact, lots of new neighbours. The hotel is filling up. All good., as Lucy might say.

We spend the balance of the daylight on the balcony or on the room doing small tasks, writing, or looking at email. I send a note to Janet giving her or return to Canada schedule, and we start talking about when we will eat again.

Downstairs once more, this time for a simple garlic pizza which we consume with gusto on the terrace in front of the hotel. Every room is booked tonight and the staff are working to fill capacity, with smiles all around. Alf is quite excited by all the action and the simple villagers of Yangshuo are burning enough gunpowder to inspire envy in the most cacophilic artillery brigade. Hooray

We retire upstairs weary and content. 



Day 11 New Year's Day Yangshuo

Day 11 Jan 31 New Year's Day 

After distant fireworks for a few hours it was quiet until about6. I got up and sat on the balcony looking toward Yangshuo.  The fire crackers started then and continued for about three hours.  But it just sounds like,  well,  distant fire crackers about 2 km away.  David slept peacefully through it all.  Breakfast,  porridge for me and Mexican breakfast for D. We are unabashedly enjoying some Western food, for the first time in a long while. 

Gary arrived at ten and we walked soon the hill to the bike rental place.  Imagine a small brick one storey building with a side yard full of healthy chickens and a healthy rat.  Phone Ecalls were made and a young couple with soon arrived on a  scooter followed shortly afterwards by an older couple on another scooter.   Doors were unlocked and we were fitted with bikes.  Well used.  David's had a range of high hard,  mine one low heat and Gary's has one speed. 

Then set off into town where we had walked the previous night. As it is a holiday,  traffic was light   to start.  OK,  let me qualify that. Traffic circle, vehicles in every direction. Cars, yes of course,  and bikes too.   Then every imaginable variation on two  and three wheels,  all doing the gentle ballet that is Chinese driving.  David adapted right away,  weaving with ease and confidence past whole families on scooters,  and taxis,  and grandmothers with freight trikes full of mustard greens.    Inspired by his ability,  and because there was no choice, I soon got into the rhythm as well. 

As usual,  sensory overload.  The photos  will help...  They are on the camera and will be downloaded when we get back to Changchun. 

Traffic jam caused by some lion dancers with drums.  They go from store to store dancing until the owners give them a red envelope.  

A man sweeping away piles of red paper,  the remnants of fire crackers,  using a broom made of bamboo. 

Town turning quickly to country..  Biking along roads that reminded me of roads atop the dikes in Germany and the Netherlands. 

Sunny day feeling like midsummer in Ottawa. 

Women washing clothes in almost any available water. 

Older design bamboo tags, of real bamboo,  propelled from the back like a punt,  the driver using a bamboo pole. 

Lots of new year greetings called. 

Amazing views of karst mountains, stretching into the distance, the morning fog burned off. 

Gary leading us into a cattle field,  the inhabitants wearing bells and not disturbed by the three crazy people yelling "sing nyen how" at the top of their lungs to hear the echo. 

Making up stories to go with the shapes of the mountains. 

Tiny hamlets with houses using pumps for water and big screen TV 's visible through the open front walls .... many ground floors have garage type doors leading into a room which can house a business or scooters or a living area or all of these. 

Groups of people sitting and eating. 

Children wearing their new year clothes. 

Many Chinese tourists. 

Gary loves the area and being a guide. He was a teacher for 11 years and it shows. 

After about 3.5 hours we were pretty saddle sore. Back through Yangshuo with  much more traffic this time, but we sailed through. 

Got back at 3and had a drink before staggering the 38 (but who is counting) stairs for a nap and showers. Dinner at the hotel,  Skype visit with Lucy and Nykka,  this writing,  and so to bed. 

Day 10 Li River Retreat, Yangshuo

Day 10   Li River Retreat Thursday 30 January. New Years Eve and a raft trip. (DEA)

We are aware of the morning light that starts to brighten the room at around 7:00, but stay under the covers for another half hour. Elizabeth gets up first : she goes onto the porch and listen to the birds. Most of the sounds are avian in the morning here, though of course this close to New Years there are fire crackers going of at all hours.

We have a lovely breakfast of oatmeal with bananas, toast and coffee before preparing to meet Gary (from Win-Win Travel) and Mr Zhou, the driver.

The front of the hotel is decorated with pictures of the guardian generals and couplets expressing hopes for fortune in the coming year.

We are driving south along the river and soaking in the view. The plan is to take a bamboo raft down the Li River.
We are told that today is not an official holiday but most people are leaving work early 
so our first stop is a market which is scheduled to provide essentials for families for the New Year.

A great way to start the morning! In addition to the usual foods and domestic appliances available in any Chinese market there are also whole rows dedicated to posters of the aforementioned generals, happy scenes, horses (as in The Year Of) happy children, and couplets. We take a moment to watch a skilled calligrapher brush felicitations onto red paper with black ink. Nice to see that the old ways have survived the Cultural Revolution! The are also premade couplets with gold lettering and paper cut out, red clothing - - some of it pretty racy - - New Years may be very Happy for somebody and special candies, baked goods and beautiful fruit. Everyone is excited and there is an air of good willed expectation throughput the market.

We continue by car to the river where we are ushered aboard a rustic - looking vessel, issued pfds, given powers to much on, and then at our onto the River

The raft is based on a classic design of eight longitudinal bamboo logs bound together and with a small motor on the stern. The deck is light planks with seats affixed and there is an awning for sun protection but the weather is so perfect and is function is primarily decorative.

The trip down the river leaves me adjectivily challenged. We take some good pictures, but the landscape is so impressive and the day so lovely - - warm and clear - - that we are caught up in the moment. Elizabeth spends some time calculating that this might be the perfect place to set up a dragon boat tour company, but for the most part we ate just content to view this extraordinary world.

We return to land and take a walk through a small town market that is mostly closed for the day. Everywhere is sign of new year :the generals, couplets, shreds of red paper where a mass of firecrackers had been discharged and simple candles and joss-sticks are placed in front of a many places. The ancestors are not forgotten in modern China.

We drove back to the hotel. The roads are lined with people selling live chickens, geese, ducks and fish along with the more usual vegetables and fruit. Families three or four to a scooter and driving along and the lines at filling stations are pretty dense, though everyone seems good natured about the press. Two men ride by on an electric bike ; between them is a large screen television. A small scooter has a mother driving with a toddler standing in front of her on a wooden stool (!). The only thing I didn't see was a unicycle, but that just may be a function of my poor eyesight.

It is our little glimpse of the largest migration in human history.

We return to the hotel to back in the sunshine and take in the relative calm.

We nap and shower. The firecrackers are more frequent now and there is a wood of gunpowder in the breeze.

The walk into town is quite nice. The city is crazy; families walking about, mall streets open with vendors of all descriptions selling laser lights, glowing tops and other less identifiable trinkets. Restaurants are all open (as are special massage parlors where fish nibble on your toes) and jewelry, clothing, housewares a well as alcohol by the bottle or the snort are for sale.

Elizabeth finds a tourist information centre and we procure a map of the city before stopping for dinner. Dofu with chestnuts, mustard greens with mushrooms.

We walk back to the hotel. Elizabeth had brought her headlight and I have my wand so we make the trip without incident. To be fair, the road is really dark and I wouldn't want to try it without illumination :there is real potential for leaving the road and ending up in the river...

Home before 10pm. The fireworks are almost continuous by now and the sky is ablaze with coloured florets and streaks of light.

The hills are alive with the sound of fireworks.

We sit on our patch for perhaps an hour and are lulled to sleep by the echoes of a great Chinese party. Happy New Year Everyone! 


Days 8-9 Yangshuo

Day 8 Beijing to Yangshuo (EE)

So,  we arrived at Beijing airport with lots of time to spare.  Line for security less than half an hour. We were met at Guilin by a man with a sign  that said Elizabeth.  About an hour drive in a nice van to a very quiet and nearly empty hotel. 

OK.. Our room has a private balcony overlooking the river... see attached, and bathrobes! I clearly am used to budget accommodation if the bathrobe ranks with the best view in China.  Dinner at the hotel. 

Day 9 Yangshuo and rice paddlies (EE)

This morning guide Gary and driver picked us up at 7:30 for the 3.5hr drive to the rice terraces. That was an amazing ride. So many motorcycles of all descriptions ;many caring full families and New Year gifts. In one village there were about 50 men lining the road,  each with a wicker basket containing some kind of fowl.  People were walking away caring ducks or geese or chickens by the neck.  Because we left without breakfast we stopped for hot soy milk and steamed buns.   Also stopped for a toilet break at a well maintained but extremely basic toilet. Once again glad that we have been in China for a while and that our friend E has prepared us for many things! 

Too many images to describe now.... Everyone is cleaning because tomorrow is New Year's Eve.   

We drove on switchback roads up mountains.  

Then we arrived at the Longli rice Terraces. 

Imagine a steep rock path up a hill, initially lined with tables and little booths that would usually house people selling souvenirs or food or drinks or a chance to look at the women 'so very long ...to the ground... hair.  But, because of the holiday most were empty as was the parking lot.  The path continued upwards, past houses and little hotels and restaurants and places where you can have your toes nibbled by goldfish 

The path continued up. We walked, and stopped for breaks,for more than an hour and saw mountains full of rice terraces. The photo only begins to show them, better to look for photos on the Internet. 

At the end of the trail at the top of a hill, suddenly a nice new flush WC. ????? 

The walk continued on the edge of one of the hills through a fir and bamboo  forest.   David got some great photos on his Canadian phone which he can download when we get back to Changchun. 

The forest smelled like home.  We were actually on one of the terraces. The rice here is planted in May, so the ground contained the stalks of last year's crop. 

It's 9:30and we just heard fireworks . Apparently there will be non stop fireworks day and night for the next week.  Today we saw several young children lighting and throwing fire crackers, a pleasure that those of us over 50 will remember. 

Then down to the gate. We stopped with Gary for lunch at one of the many tiny eating places. Local specialty is bacon and bamboo, with a side of mustard greens  and tea. 

Then the long drive home. We all, except the driver, doze 

 a bit. Most of the chickens and ducks were gone. So many people by the side of the road selling powers and small oranges. We were travelling  through orange and kumquat orchards. 

Home,  too tired for the walk into town, so ate at the hotel.   Then stargazing and looking forward the hills above Yangshuo. 

Time for sleep. Tomorrow we will visit villages and have a private bamboo raft ride and maybe go into town to greet the new year. 

The trip Day 8 South to Guanzi Province

T 28 January South to Guanxi Province day 8.

Today is a time for travelling.

We wake at seven and go to breakfast of toasted egg, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with cucumber slices and tea. Back at the room we complete our packing and get to the east lodge common room at almost nine. A few moments conference with the staff and we are on our way to the airport. The driver is our musician friend who seems to manage that portion of the operation and along the way we tells us that he has been at Red Lantern since 2007, that he is a long term resident of Beijing (40 Years! ) and that living in Beijing is expensive : perhaps 2500 rmb for room and board. These he gets a part of his pay, so 4,000 rmb is enough to live comfortably.

He drops is of at terminal 2 and we take the elevator to the 2nd floor (domestic departures) where we get our tickets in about ten minutes and then line up for security.

The line is quicker than I anticipated and the staff are efficient and good matured. Once more I am impressed by the professionalism of the security checkpoints-- there is none of the intrusive confrontation one gets from the Americans, rather just a thorough and gently apologetic demeanour which goes a long way to keeping people happy.

Through security we discover that the departure gate had not yet been assigned so we slip down to the lower level for coffee. Elizabeth has a cappuccino and I down an Americano. Very quiet and laid back. After this respite we return to the main floor and camp at gate 38 until departure.

Luggage stowed, we have a bit of a wait on the tarmac and actually takeoff at about 1:10. At cruising altitude Elizabeth is fascinated by the mountains and the glaciation thereon . China is so dry that there is less atmospheric humidity than we are used to (hence the pervasive dust) but it makes for great visibility if there is no pollution in the way. It is becoming clear that global warming and melt offing the Himalayas will have a major negative impact on Chinese agriculture and life. No wonder they are trying to buy up huge swaths of sub Saharan farm land They are probably counting on increased heat and regional increase of rainfall in those areas, which will discourage the local maize production but work for a lot of Chinese dietary items.

Lunch is a small carrot and pea salad, a hunk of chicken , noodles and red sauce for Elizabeth and rice with mild curry for me. There is also bread, and yogurt for dessert. Yum. By the time we have demolished this meal and cleaned out the rubble we have only about ninety minutes before we land. So far, so good.

Landing is smooth and we deplane without incident. A driver for Win-Win is waiting for us :a tall young chap with a nice new van. We roll south to Yangshou through a rich agricultural belt of orchards, vegetable farms and grain fields. The vehicles here have their own character - - especially the old - style home made three wheel pickup trucks with the motor mounted in the low above the front wheel. Cute and efficient. There are many more has powered bicycles and scooters and lots of honking and smiles, 
It's warm here and we are excited by the thought of being outside without thermal undies but try not to get our hopes too high.

The Li River Retreat is simply delightful. We have a room with balcony on the third floor and we are excited and pleased as we unpack and settle in. Showers!

Dinner in the dining room becomes a bit of a victory party. I accidentally order more wine than we planned, but we make it upstairs without incident and fall in to bed

The trip Day 7 Beijing

M 27 January Beijing day 7. We sleep in late this morning until almost 8:30 and enjoy a light breakfast of eggs, toast and tea at the Red Lantern. I am in somewhat of a tizzy about the state of my laundry (!?) which does not seem to be trying as per the laws of thermodynamics and poor Elizabeth has to deal with a fiesty and under- caffeined David until she can get me to the cafe and called down, while of course being picked up. We return to Tianammen Square and discover that Monday is closed museum day in Beijing. No worries. We walk south and then veer westward into a very up class shopping district of pedestrian mall. At first I am sceptical :the place may be too NYC for people to be having a good time, but my apprehension is in fact ground less. Duck restaurants abound, and I spend some time watching a baker rolling out a crepe dough that must be a metre wide and over that in length, yet subtlely thin. There are vendors selling the most delicate little toy birds with wings that flap when launched. Jewellers, clothing stores, art, bookstores, antiquities real and unreal, actors in opera costume and makeup, and people everywhere enjoying each others company. Elizabeth observes rightly that the sun is truly warming us for the first time since wnter came to Changchun in early November. To our minds this counts as the beginning of spring so we stroll along in a George Harrison state of mind. The area is very clean, bright and decorated in classical elite Chinese themes. We gawk like the tourists we are and then end up to the south where Elizabeth engages a rickshaw to take us to the Temple of Heaven. The driver weaves us through traffic, down some strange back roads and along a bumpy sidewalk before depositing us at the front of the Temple and charging twice what she has proposed. All well and good : the difference was truly minor and the trip was a blast. The Temple of Heaven is another beautifully crafted complex which, the signs tell us, is the largest area devoted to Heaven on the planet. I enjoy the swipe at the Vatican, especially since Matteo Rici may well have worked here on occasion, and try to take some film footage. We spend perhaps an hour and a half when a dress renew rehearsal for an enactment of the Lunar New Year Sacrifice for the Endurance of A Bountiful Harvest diverts what little attention we ever had There are perhaps 150 actors in elite feudal costumes of red, blue, green, purple and yellow variously carrying whips, swords, pilkes, banners, sunshades, peacock feathers and scrolls. Very colourful and there is some pretty powerful gonging coming from somewhere too. After a while we wander to the east gate where we catch the metro back to our neighbourhood. All of this on breakfast, a coffee and a few squares of chocolate! We are famished and therefore find a place to eat meat pie, spinach with nuts, a soup with chicken and mushrooms and rice. Then we do return to the Red Lantern where we plan for the transfer to Guanxi province tomorrow and also discover that my socks has finally more or less dried. Elizabeth retreats to the lobby for warmth and a little time to write while I update this trip diary in the room. Tomorrow we go south...

The trip Days 4-6 Beijing (DEA)

4-6 January 24 – 26 Beijing

F 24 (continued) We venture out down the street west from the entrance of our houton to count the music stores in the area. We come up with more that 30 on the south side of the street! Crazy, as Wily Nelson might have sang. Elizabeth returns to where we got her flute and talks to the flute master there. We purchase a CD of flue times and they discuss how to get a slight distortion sound out of the instrument using tissue paper. I purchase a guitar capo to ensure I can play with her no matter what the key and we spend a few minutes looking at guitars. Imports are priced comprabably to the US and I don't run into any local instruments that particularly move me, but that may be due to my language shortcomings. Elizabeth is still having trouble with the electronics and this is not making her a pleased person in a tent. However she is maintaining a cheerful and pleasant demeanour and remains very positive about the day's events. After a few fruitless hours on the tablet and telephone she decides to seek out dinner which takes us back to Red Lantern dining room whet we are informed that we are exactly on time for two plates of dumplings and free beer. This brightens our mood considerably, especially when the dumplings arrive. They are magnificent - - perhaps the best we have ever tasted - - and the beer was pretty delicious to. Afterward we return to our room and then repair to the lobby of our building to play flute and guitar together. It is a gentle and quiet time, with accompaniment from a bird who lives there. And so to bed. S 25 January the Forbidden City day 5. A late start this morning. We sleep in until almost 9 and break our fast on French Toast. In keeping with our Canadian hippie ways we also feed on tea and oranges that come all the way from China. This is not the accomplishment it might have been when those words were first sang, but there is a comfortable resonance. After morning business we have coffee and a donut large enough to have been used as the driver side tire for a small Fiat and then take the subway back to the Forbidden City. This is a truly jaw - dropping installation As monumental preservation goes, I have never seen its like The scale is truly imperial, designed to tell the visitor "No matter how big you might be at home, here you are an insignificant insect. Join us or die". One gets a sense of the immense power that was imperial China, even when it was weakening, but little insight into the hearts of the people who lived there. We suspect that this is a deliberate move on the part of those who recreated the complex : the Party has no love for the feudal lords who oppressed the people for so long. I had the same sense of disjuncture from the residents of the palace in Istanbul. The Turks are a little more generous when it comes to the Sultan : there were domestic quarters and kitchens on display, but the Forbidden City was all static views of monumental proportions without any context. Sure they talked a lot about rituals and sacrifices, but there was never any sense of what they might have entailed. Nor was there any sense of what a poetry party might have been like, what children did in this environment or even how the the servants lived and worked. All very stark. A classic example of condemning by praising until the subject is revealed to be unworthy of sympathy. While inside we are waylaid by some artists from the school in Xian and we purchase two pieces - - one for Angus and the other for David and Angie. Then we return our erratically performing electronic guides and cross the street northward into Dongshang Park to climb the hill and view the Buddhist shrine on top. There is also a clear view of the city: south to the Forbidden City complex and neighbourhood, east to the broadcast tower, north to the Drum Tower and westward to the lake. We head that way and pass people flying kites to enter the Lotus Market. Although the weather is warm there are people skating, sledging and Ice- biking as we walk along. I am getting moody so we purchase and consume a chocolate bar as we make our way through houtons and a large totally local market before emerging about 300 metres from our lodgings. But instead of going home we go eastward to where we suspect one can eat Duck. We are too early so we cross the street to a shopping centre which has an advertisement for Cafe Bene, but the place is still being built so we go to the food court in the basement to an Italian (!) place where Elizabeth has some delicious mushroom soup and we share flatbreads. A good appetizer. Then it is Duck Season. It comes on a large platter: breast meat and a crispy skin. It is accompanied by moo shoo pancakes, sliced of onion and cucumber, and duck sauce. I am getting quite excited but Elizabeth just smiles at the mountain of food and reminds me that we have all evening to eat it... About forty minutes later we are sitting with silly smiles and a collection of bare plates. The locals seem impressed with our prowess, and hide their children from us both as we exit the establishment. We arrive back at the Red Lantern in about ten minutes and start to document the day. Down the hall comes the muted sounds of human voices and a well - played cello. The evening is starting out well. Elizabeth is still locked in mortal combat with Google but manages to avoid a final confrontation and instead masters a few new levels on a game before taking her flute to the common room. I join her a few minutes later. We play together and with our host until after ten o'clock 26 January Sn - Panda City day 6. We wake up, breakfast at the Red Lantern and are off to the Beijing Zoo for 9:30. On the way we stop at a local convenience store to get Elizabeth a new pair of gloves and then descend into the metro for the three stop trip to the zoo. Admission process is quick and painless and we arrive at the Giant Panda exhibit in time to see them having a late breakfast. Everyone is massively excited and there is a certain amount of untoward shoving and butting in as visitors surge forward to view some of China's best loved emmesaries to the world. But it is a good natured crowd and there is ooing and asking as the masticating ursunoid waddles up to the glass and settles in for a good scratch. I got excited and took some film footage which I hope to share with Lucy upon our return to the Great White North. We are no less excited than anyone else. Afterwards we wander the zoo and view a number of monkeys, polar bears, Emu, Zebra, giraffe, cobra, Python's, boas, giant tortoise and other assorted wildlife. We make one stop for overpriced but nevertheless welcome coffee during our walk and leave the zoo at about 2:30 to catch the metro back to our local station. The system is more crowded than we have experienced this far but eeverything goes smoothly and we catch a light lunch at our local cafe before pausing in a music store to get information about how to ensure that the paper stays affixed to the bamboo flute. We are aided by a knowledgeable young man who sells us a good backlog of papers and stickum and then continue home. At the entrance to our houton there is a cobbler who punches two holes in my belt for the princely sum of 5rmb. Ecstasy! I now have a belt that actually helps to hold up my trousers.! So life improves incrementally... Later Elizabeth discovers that yes, she can use Facebook. Our spirits lift even more, if this is possible. At seven we walk west to a houton with lots of food places. Elizabeth selects a Muslim run establishment and orders an incredible quantity of food. There is Kimchee, tofu, cabbage, seaweed and tentacles, a savoury peanut sauce, moo Shu pancakes and a hot skillet with brilliantly flavoured beef and onions. And beer too. We pounce. All of this walking outside gives us an appetite but we don't seem to be having weight, which is nice. We return to the Red Lantern and loll about. Elizabeth has found a computer game she likes (thanks Ian!) and I take a few moments to write up the day and review our finances. So far, so good.

The trip Day 3 The Great Wall

Day 4
 January 24 Beijing (EE)

Today we climbed on the Great Wall of China. 

After bacon and egg breakfast waiting for us in the hostel lobby at 7,we left in a car with our driver at 7:20.He negotiated the early morning traffic brilliantly.  One difference we have noticed here is that the cars generally drive using the lane markers.  Not so much in Changun. (we will have hair raising stories to tell) We headed out along the 2nd Ring road to the northwest. It is a cloudy day today, perfect for David 's eyes. It is also hazy with smog. 

Angus,  we passed the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube.   VERY  exciting.  After about half an hour we were in the the country heading toward the wall at Mutianyu.  We arrived at 8:45.

This is one of the less developed areas.  The sales stalls were just setting up and we had the first of many offers of "coffee, tea, red Bull, stickers, vodka,  t shirts etc." 

We had paid a flat rate for the day, but happily got tickets for a chair lift to the top. 

It is amazing,  more so than I could imagine. We  were more or less alone for a while.  

Check photos on the net.  We stayed in one direction but after about 700 metres gave up because of the steepness of the steps.  Not because they were too hard, more because of the terror... Like going up scree slopes with very little on either side.  (sorry Ian)  So we climbed back and took the opposite route for about an hour each way. 

Mountains,  row on row in the midst. Some, to the south reminded me of the Green mountains in Vermont.  To the north more rugged,  like mount rundle only much much smaller.  And walls.  Plural because two walls intersect here. 

In some places it is a narrow path with low walls.  In others quite wide up to four metres.  There are also many towers.  Please look on the net for photos of that section. 

There was an enticing slide... Like the one at Malta Lake in Poznan,  but long and high.   Although tempted we took the little 2 seater chairlift back down. (Angus later told us that he had visited this secion of the wall when here for the Olympics in 2008. The athletes all walked up to the top, but took the slide down. Next time.)

At the base we were again approached by the two first vendors of the day.  (we had chatted earlier.) So there,  in the not so cold (about ten degrees.... yahoo!) we had hot coffee and a banana crepe. 

Then a quick walk down the hill to a little restaurant. Lunch was part of our package and we say in a tiny dining room,  that was also ten degrees and ate delicious rice,  a chicken based thing with amazing sauce and bockk choy with mushrooms and garlic.   Then the drive home to the red lantern hostel.  When you have a moment, it's worth a look on the net.  It is right in the hit ones.  Angus,  you'd love it, so much activity all the time. 

One of the coolest things about this city is the many different kinds of vehicles.  Bikes,  electric bikes, electric scooters, tricycle designed for transport, electric tricycles, bikes with space for a side saddle rider, three wheeled motorized vehicles with cabs on them,three wheeled cars,  as well as cars, buses and trolley buses.   This place is much more bike friendly, at least around here,  with wide dedicated lanes for all those bikes. 

Photos? So far I have   been using the camera and will download those when we get home. David is also using his phone camera and we will post a few on the blog, soon.  

So, dear kids and very close friends,  please know that we are well,  happy and taking in every second of this experience.  Love to all.   Liz and David